To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the effectiveness of individual electoral registration in reducing the scope for fraud in Northern Ireland. (142192)

The Electoral Commission informs me that since the introduction of individual registration in 2002 it has published reports on the 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election, the 2005 combined UK parliamentary and local government elections and the 2007 Assembly election. It is the Commission’s view that changes introduced by the Electoral Fraud Act 2002, including individual registration, have resulted in more accurate elector registers and reduced the scope for electoral malpractice.

To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission pursuant to the answer of 16 May 2007, Official Report, column 749W, on elections: fraud, (1) how many cases of prosecutions for offences under the Representation of the People Acts came to the attention of the Electoral Commission and were recorded in each year since 2002; (142196)

The Electoral Commission informs me that it has no formal or statutory role in relation to electoral malpractice, and there is no requirement for it to be informed of cases of prosecutions for offences under the Representation of the People Acts. The available information on the number of such cases brought to its attention in each year is as follows: